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Fire Aug 07, 2023
Firefighters tend to the aftermath of a fatal boat fire in Long Beach. | Photo courtesy of the Long Beach Fire Department/Facebook
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Two women are dead and three other people are hospitalized with burns Sunday after a 35-foot pleasure boat burst into flames at a fuel dock in the Alamitos Bay, on the eastern side of Long Beach.
The fire was reported at 5:17 p.m. Saturday at the dock in the 200 block of Marina Drive, Long Beach Firefighter Jake Heflin told City News Service.
All of the dead and injured were in their 60s, he said. They have not been identified.
The dock was near a fire station, Heflin said. Firefighters rushed to the scene of the large, smoky fire that could be smelled by residents throughout the east side of Long Beach and seen throughout the marina area. People near the dock told firefighters they heard and felt an explosion.
Heflin said preliminary reports indicate that the boat was in the process of or had just finished gassing up at the Alamitos Bay Fuel Dock when the blaze erupted, according to the Long Beach Post. Fueling a boat can be dangerous if fumes are not dissipated before the engine is started.
Long Beach firefighters on land and in the water were assisted in putting out the well-involved fire by Orange County Fire Authority counterparts, Heflin said. No firefighters were injured.
The wreckage was towed to an isolation dock to prevent environmental impacts such as leaking fuel, Heflin said.
